Rasgulla

Rasgulla needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular Indian sweet especially in summers. Its cool rose water infused syrup gives instant relief to taste buds. It is also very healthy as it is made of milk.

When my elder son was around 2 years old he was very fond of rasgullas. So there used to be never ending supply of Rasgullas in summers for him. He used to call it Habulla I don’t know why. Whenever he would see any sweets shop he would start screaming Habulla Habulla and we had to buy these for him. I wish I knew this recipe at that time. Could have saved me a lot of trouble.

I have adapted the recipe from the book http://www.momsindiancooking.com/ by Mrs. Pushpa Bhargava. 3-4 months back I had the pleasure of meeting her. She is wife of my father in law’s college friend. What a gracious lady she is. We all were in awe of her. She gifted this book to us.

I immediately shortlisted recipes I wanted to try from the book. But I fractured my hand and was not able to cook for some time. Now I have full plans to try out more recipes from the book as this one has turned out so well. I gave this rasgulla recipe to my friend and now she is also vouching for this recipe.

The rasgullas were very spongy and soft. I have used buffalo’s milk but next time I will try these with cow’s milk as their rasgulla’s are softer.

To make RasgullaFirst of all we have to make chenna. Boil milk and when it comes to boil add juice of 1 lemon. Milk will start curdling and whey will separate. Strain the curdled milk in cheesecloth placed in a strainer. Keep a bowl under strainer to collect the whey.
Don’t throw this whey as it is very nutritious. You can use this to prepare dough or add in gravies.
The original recipe suggests keeping it aside for 3 hours but as I am an impatient person I waited for only ½ an hour till all the whey was drained completely.
Now you can either blend it in your blender for ½ minute or use your hands to make a fine mixture. I used to press these with hands to make sandesh (as you can see in my sandesh with Nutella recipe) which took some time and effort. But after reading this recipe I have just started using my blender. Much easier and less time consuming.

Make balls. Number of balls will depend on the size. I got around 15 balls.
Take a wide bottomed pan. Boil water on high heat. When it starts boiling add sugar and dissolve it completely. Add balls to the water and let it boil covered on high for 5 minutes. Balls will be double in size now. Turn the flame to medium and let them cook covered for another 15 minutes. Turn off the flame and add rose water.let it stand for some time to cool down. Serve cold . Garnish with pistachio slivers and saffron strands.